@donwest84.bsky.social
Stolen Focus. It will offer a lot of context on why you can focus better now. Not a self help book, it's a deep dive into how society has chipped away at attention for over a century.
Stolen Focus book by Johann Hari
Buy a cheap copy of Stolen Focus book by Johann Hari. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Our ability to pay attention is collapsing. From the author of Chasing the Scream and Lost Connections comes a groundb...
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December 18, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Stolen Focus. It will offer a lot of context on why you can focus better now. Not a self help book, it's a deep dive into how society has chipped away at attention for over a century.
Sounds like someone finally got around to watching the Hunger Games!
December 18, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Sounds like someone finally got around to watching the Hunger Games!
Reagan sold hope and optimism. Trump sells despair. It's kinda astounding how different that pitch is given that the policies are very close and MAGA is a rip-off of Reagan's 1980 slogan, "Let's Make America Great Again." But despair doesn't elicit positive memories.
December 18, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Reagan sold hope and optimism. Trump sells despair. It's kinda astounding how different that pitch is given that the policies are very close and MAGA is a rip-off of Reagan's 1980 slogan, "Let's Make America Great Again." But despair doesn't elicit positive memories.
I recently bought my first car since 2005 recently. 20 glorious years car free, then I moved to the suburbs of LA. There's nothing good about cars, this is a failure of social evolution and city planning. Expensive, polluting, awful things.
December 18, 2025 at 5:08 PM
I recently bought my first car since 2005 recently. 20 glorious years car free, then I moved to the suburbs of LA. There's nothing good about cars, this is a failure of social evolution and city planning. Expensive, polluting, awful things.
The Nazis hard line Jewish deportation strategy morphed into death camps. Miller's policies treading the path to state sanctioned murder was always predictable.
December 18, 2025 at 4:10 PM
The Nazis hard line Jewish deportation strategy morphed into death camps. Miller's policies treading the path to state sanctioned murder was always predictable.
The existence of nonprofits is indicative of a failure of government to deliver needed services. We beg donors for money and underpay staff to provide less than is needed, and we call that charity.
Like government, nonprofits should be guided by the communities they serve.
Like government, nonprofits should be guided by the communities they serve.
December 18, 2025 at 3:54 PM
The existence of nonprofits is indicative of a failure of government to deliver needed services. We beg donors for money and underpay staff to provide less than is needed, and we call that charity.
Like government, nonprofits should be guided by the communities they serve.
Like government, nonprofits should be guided by the communities they serve.
In Trump’s defense, Americans reelected him after he got millions killed with incompetent Covid policies, and after overheating the economy and causing inflation, all by telling people it was Biden's fault in spite of all evidence. He has reason to believe that transparent lies work.
December 18, 2025 at 4:43 AM
In Trump’s defense, Americans reelected him after he got millions killed with incompetent Covid policies, and after overheating the economy and causing inflation, all by telling people it was Biden's fault in spite of all evidence. He has reason to believe that transparent lies work.
Even if the intent is a change in consumption, the regulation is placed on the corporations. And in the case of the carbon tax, there's the incentive to buy offsets, which is less consumer-focused.
December 18, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Even if the intent is a change in consumption, the regulation is placed on the corporations. And in the case of the carbon tax, there's the incentive to buy offsets, which is less consumer-focused.
I agree. Sometimes a better regulatory environment is simpler. But smart regulation is where we need to go, not blaming individuals for not making only virtuous choices.
December 18, 2025 at 12:54 AM
I agree. Sometimes a better regulatory environment is simpler. But smart regulation is where we need to go, not blaming individuals for not making only virtuous choices.
"Not a meaningful source" is questionable. If power production is about 40% of water consumption and data centers increase power production by 5%, that's actually a steep increase in water usage.
That's a 4.5% growth of consumption in a market that increases consumption by ~2.5%/year. So a rapid tripling of the increase to meet existing increase demand plus data centers. That's achievable, but it's not nothing.
December 18, 2025 at 12:52 AM
"Not a meaningful source" is questionable. If power production is about 40% of water consumption and data centers increase power production by 5%, that's actually a steep increase in water usage.
Sure! I'm not suggesting that we do away with them or don't need them in the future. I'm even okay with public financing if they're enough of a public good but aren't viable without subsidies. But we need to regulate resource use as a part of the package, and that's true for all industry.
December 18, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Sure! I'm not suggesting that we do away with them or don't need them in the future. I'm even okay with public financing if they're enough of a public good but aren't viable without subsidies. But we need to regulate resource use as a part of the package, and that's true for all industry.
This is why regulation is good. I strongly recommend reading "The Jungle," it's why you aren't eating rope in your botulism-filled canned food.
December 18, 2025 at 12:05 AM
This is why regulation is good. I strongly recommend reading "The Jungle," it's why you aren't eating rope in your botulism-filled canned food.
You can extricate individual choice if the choice is have a category of products or don't, and the unregulated corporations are in a race to the bottom. We've tried having labels that indicate the degree of negative impact, and the effect is marginal. If we want our kids to have water, we regulate.
December 18, 2025 at 12:04 AM
You can extricate individual choice if the choice is have a category of products or don't, and the unregulated corporations are in a race to the bottom. We've tried having labels that indicate the degree of negative impact, and the effect is marginal. If we want our kids to have water, we regulate.
Which is why regulation of corporate activities is the only effective solution.
December 17, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Which is why regulation of corporate activities is the only effective solution.
At which point of contact can a regulation have greater impact? Production done by a few easily monitored businesses? Or every households water meter? And are we going to reduce corporate water use with universal voluntary boycott? Honestly, what are you even arguing?
December 17, 2025 at 11:49 PM
At which point of contact can a regulation have greater impact? Production done by a few easily monitored businesses? Or every households water meter? And are we going to reduce corporate water use with universal voluntary boycott? Honestly, what are you even arguing?
I should have said "choose not to buy categories of things."
Corporations made recycling an individual issue, it was blame shifting for their production choices. Relying on individuals when regulating corporations is more effective and less burdensome is just smart practice.
Corporations made recycling an individual issue, it was blame shifting for their production choices. Relying on individuals when regulating corporations is more effective and less burdensome is just smart practice.
December 17, 2025 at 11:47 PM
I should have said "choose not to buy categories of things."
Corporations made recycling an individual issue, it was blame shifting for their production choices. Relying on individuals when regulating corporations is more effective and less burdensome is just smart practice.
Corporations made recycling an individual issue, it was blame shifting for their production choices. Relying on individuals when regulating corporations is more effective and less burdensome is just smart practice.
That goes back to corporate use (power/ag/irrigation/industrial). You don't really get yo choose as a consumer what their use is, you can only buy or not buy. This is why they're measured separately, and why regulation of industry is where we get benefits.
December 17, 2025 at 11:32 PM
That goes back to corporate use (power/ag/irrigation/industrial). You don't really get yo choose as a consumer what their use is, you can only buy or not buy. This is why they're measured separately, and why regulation of industry is where we get benefits.
Letstake a look at the EPA stats. And... household use is under 10%, far behind irrigation and power production.
December 17, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Letstake a look at the EPA stats. And... household use is under 10%, far behind irrigation and power production.
Crypto is the stupidest scam we've ever permitted to get so out of hand. I'll be very pleased to see it legislated out of existence.
December 17, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Crypto is the stupidest scam we've ever permitted to get so out of hand. I'll be very pleased to see it legislated out of existence.
Absolutely. But on the other hand, none of them want to take the helm while the ship sinks. If a bomb thrower drives Johnson out of the job, they'll have to try to find a volunteer. And they were damaged by Johnson's long recess, will they want another?
December 17, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Absolutely. But on the other hand, none of them want to take the helm while the ship sinks. If a bomb thrower drives Johnson out of the job, they'll have to try to find a volunteer. And they were damaged by Johnson's long recess, will they want another?
I tried so hard to find sympathy for him, hoping that he tried to do a job he was unqualified for and wanted to be honest. A cursory look at his work re: Nazi vs Antifa and i just didn't care anymore.
December 17, 2025 at 9:43 PM
I tried so hard to find sympathy for him, hoping that he tried to do a job he was unqualified for and wanted to be honest. A cursory look at his work re: Nazi vs Antifa and i just didn't care anymore.
Prediction- Johnson won't lose the gavel. The House GOP realizes the outcome would be the same for a successor, a fight over the post would be damaging to the GOP at a bad time, and the House seems to be functioning without a Speaker.
December 17, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Prediction- Johnson won't lose the gavel. The House GOP realizes the outcome would be the same for a successor, a fight over the post would be damaging to the GOP at a bad time, and the House seems to be functioning without a Speaker.
The lesson that Speaker Johnson has left the country is that we don't need a Speaker of the House. It seems that House members can get things done even if the leader is a roadblock.
December 17, 2025 at 9:32 PM
The lesson that Speaker Johnson has left the country is that we don't need a Speaker of the House. It seems that House members can get things done even if the leader is a roadblock.
December 17, 2025 at 9:16 PM
The lesson that Speaker Johnson has left the country is that we don't need a Speaker of the House. It seems that House members can get things done even if the leader is a roadblock.